Homestead police and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service used a GPS tracker for the first time to follow two suspected mail thieves, police said. Investigators placed the device in a Priority Mail package inside a cluster of community mailboxes at the San Sherri apartment complex after a series of thefts.
Shortly before 4 a.m. Thursday, detectives followed the signal to a gray Nissan Rogue. Police said Brandon Morgan was driving and Teisha Richardson was a passenger. Officers recovered 134 pieces of mail belonging to 34 victims.
Officers tried to stop the car near Northeast 15th Street and Homestead Boulevard. Police said Morgan fled, hit another vehicle and then crashed into a tree at Southwest 296th Street and U.S. 1. Officers arrested Morgan, 35, and Richardson, 19.
A resident of the complex said mail had been taken over several months from the 440 East Mowry Drive address, including credit cards and passports. He said mailboxes were pried open, which can leave residents without mail for days.
Morgan faces 39 charges, including possession of five or more documents with personal identifying information and 34 counts of mail theft. Circuit Judge Mindy Glazer set his bond at $95,900 and ordered him to stay away from the complex. Richardson faces 34 counts of mail theft, with bond set at $34,000.
